SLO Tango -- SLO Tango - important possibilitie

[Christina Troxel]

Laura,

I think your ideas are swell and will enhance the experiences of  
everyone in our small tango universe.  Many of us travel far and wide  
to find new and challenging tango experiences.  The fact that we have  
many world class tango instructors visit us in SLO is a rare  
pleasure.  Adding opportunities to have more focused small group  
sessions with these instructors, in addition to the normal larger  
group lessons, provides a new avenue for those who want more of a  
challenge.

Asking veteran "tango heads" to mentor newer dancers by attending  
beginning workshops is an unquestionably great idea. It will increase  
the confidence of beginning dancers and give them a chance to get to  
know more experienced dancers.  I know from my experience that it is  
a great help to learn the steps by practicing with someone who is  
experienced rather than only with someone who is also just learning.   
I think this can also be a great way to balance out the man/woman  
ratio so that it is more enjoyable for everyone and no one is left out.

I'm definitely for more Milongas!

I re-read your email and tried to understand how it might be  
construed to suggest creating stratification or some sort of  
hierarchy in the group as suggested by Tom Harrington.  I can only  
see opportunities for individuals of all levels to benefit and add to  
our vital community spirit.  We have a wide range of "levels" from  
beginners to very experienced dancers.  I think one of the great  
strengths of our group is that everyone at all levels enjoys tango  
without judgement or consideration of experience level.

Virtually all instruction is organized in some form of progressive  
levels.  Tango is no different and everyone will progress through the  
levels at their own pace depending on commitment, ability and  
resources.  Common sense and courtesy should apply when selecting a  
workshop to provide a balance between personal challenge and  
enhancing the experience of the others in the workshop.

Asking experienced dancers to volunteer at beginning workshops is  
also a great way to bring the group together.  One of the  
difficulties with any workshop is the usual imbalance of partners.   
I'm sure we have all experienced occasions where a workshop was  
overloaded with women (apparently more common) or men and found  
ourselves sitting out often, struggling with the steps and feeling  
that we were getting short changed for the cost of the workshop.  If  
experienced volunteers could be recruited it would be a great way to  
even out the partner ratio and make a much richer experience for  
everyone.

Tom, with all due respect to your desire to hold on to the precious  
community spirit we have, I think you may have overreacted a bit.  I  
want to keep our happy tango universe as one, too, but I don't  
perceive any threat in Laura's great suggestions.  And I really  
appreciate her effort to help organize more great workshops.  Thanks  
Laura.


Tom Troxel

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